Self-defense shooting device



' M. HOFMANN SELF DEFENSE SHOOTING DEVICE March 1,1927. y `'1;6185376' Filed April 13, 1926 Patented Mar. 1, 1927.

U E S'E MARTIN HOFMANN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SELF-DEFENSE SHOOTING DEVICE.

Application filed April 13, 1926. Serial No. 101,821.

This invention relates to shooting devices and it particularly relates to self-defense shooting devices, the object of the invention being to .provide means for single individuals, such as bank employees, subway ticket agents, jewelers and other persons handling substantial sums of money, or guarding valuable objects, to protect themselves when held up to be robbed. l

Such hold-ups usually happen when the victim is alone in his business quarters and usually the victim is not able to frustrate the attempt, or to capture the bandit 1n some Way or other.

It is thereforeanother object of the invention to provide a device which can be caused to fire automatically upon raising the hands according to the demand of the bandit.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a device which can be neatly hidden upon the body under the clothing of the user so as to avoid observation.

In view of these ends, the invention con-v sists in the novel yarrangement of the parts of construction hereinafter described and illustrated by the accompanying drawings,

which are made on an enlarged scale tov show the particular details of the construction more clearly; in said drawings-a Fig. 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view along line 1-1 of Fig. 2; I

Fig. 2 is a rear View of the device on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a front view;

Fig. 4 shows on a somewhat enlarged scale the particular details regulating the firing olf of the cartridge;

' Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the device, constructed in accordance with -my invention, illustrating the arrangement suitable to be attached to a person.

' Referring to the drawings, 10 denotes a. housing made of steel or any other metal, 11 straps or suspenders secured to the housing for attaching it to the body of the user, 12 a belt to wear around the body and 13 a bullet proof texture, made of steel wire or the like material, connected with the said belt and the housing tol permanentlyfhold the orice of the lowest chamber of the magazine at its proper place in about the height of the lowest point of the breast plate. .At Vthe front side of the housing 10 a shaft 14 is disposed perpendicularly to the housing V 10, the said shaft projecting into the inside space 15 of the housing 10 and being rigidl secured by a set screw 16 to the hub 17 cylindrical magazine 18 is rotatably mounted on said stationary shaft 14 and held there by a screw cap 19 engaging the screw thread at the foremost end of the shaft 14, said magazine having preferably siX chambers 20 equidistantly andsymmetrically arranged lin the manner of the usual revolver magazine. Near its peripheral edge the magazine 18 is provided with an annular line of teeth 21. A smaller spur gear 22 meshes with the teeth 21 and is rigidly secured in any of the well known ways to the front end of the hollow shaft 23 rotatably arranged in the front wall of the housing l0, said shaft 23 being integral with the dish-shaped ratchet wheel 24 within space 15. vA shaft 25 is rotatably arranged in said hollow shaft 23 and in the rear wall of the housing 10, being held in front by the collar 26 and in the rear by the ratchet wheel 27 engaged by the spring actuated pawl 28 secured to the rear wall of the housing 10. A spiral coil 29 is arranged centrally around the shaft 25 and is secured with its outer end to the ratchet wheel 24, while with its inner end it isv secured to the shaft 25'. Both the collar Y27 and the ratchet wheel 28 are rigidly secured to shaft 25; furthermore the freeend of said shaft 25 is provided with a. square cap 30 which may be engaged by a detachable rounded therein by an expansion spring 33 secured with its lower end tothe aforesaid lbolt 32 so as to pull the same with its cutting edge downwardly to engage the teeth of ratchet wheel 24 unless said stem is pulled upwardly by a string 34 secured to the upper end'of this bolt.

f The shaft 14 is provided within the space 15 with a bifurcate end and holds a double armed lever 35 pivotally secured within the fork ends of the same, the lever 35 having at the end of the long arm a, firing .pin 36 passing through an opening or passageway 37 in the front wall of the housing 10 so as to start off the cartridge in the. lowest chamber by puncturing the rear wall of the said cartridge. vThe other, somewhat shorter arm of the lever eXtendssomewhat-beyond the lowest point of the peripheral edge of the ratchet wheel 24 so as to engage the ycam 38 disposed at the edge of the periphery of the ratchet wheel 24 facing the inner side ot the front wall ot the housing 10.

To the iront wall of the housing 10, above shaft 14, a spring 39 is secured in any suitable manner with the uppei1 end and wit-h the other it presses against the end of the short arm of the lever so as to always push the other end with the tiring pin 36 towards the cartridge in the lowest chamber of magazine 18.

An inspection of the spur gear 22 shows that a certain part of its peripheral line or tace is devoid ot any teeth; the position ot this spur gear 22 shows the relation to the teeth 21 on the magazine 18 in that moment in which the cartridge is tired oii; the line or teeth oi said spur gear 22 is so adjusted that their engagement with the teeth V2l brings the next filled chamber in -front of opening 37 so as to give the lever 35 a chance to fire oit the cartridge in said chamber. Owing to that part et the spur gear 22 which is free ot teeth, the magazine 18 stands still while the spur gear 22 is out of engagement with teeth 21; during this stand still the short arm of lever 35 glides over cam 38 and as its rear wall 39 stands perpendicularly to the plane ot the periphery of the. inner edge of the ratchet wheel 24 the lever 35 with pin 36 is abruptly pulled onto the cartridge to start ignition. As soon as the lever is out ot the recess 41 and glides along the slide 43 of the tace of the ratchet wheel 24 the long arm 4of the lever 35 with its pin 36 is taken back far enough not to form an obstruction to the rotation of the maga-zine 18.

The operation of the device is performed by iirstwinding up theV coil 29 by means of the key 30a in the usual manner and by pulling out then the bolt 32 of its engagement with ratchet wheel 24 by pulling upwardly the string 34; this string is conducted Vunderneath the clothing of the user through the shirtsleeve onto the handplate of the user where it ends in a handle 44 which the user pulls in the moment of danger while he raises his hands. As soon as he releases string 34 the bolt 32 engages again the ratchet wheel 24 and the device Vcomes to a stop. Instead as shown to facilitate the illustration one may conveniently 'arrange the pulling of the string 34 by disposing chamber 31 more to the side so as to have the bolt 32 andthe string 34 forni 'one straight line during the pulling. Y l

For the greater security another, electrical stopping device may be arranged at either side oi' the housing 10. Through an open-V ing 45 a spring actuated bolt 46 passes into the space 15 and engages the ratchet wheelV 24,but on pressing a button 4T held betweenV the Fingers an electrical current may be passed from the battery 48 through the electroniagnet 49 and the spring actuated bolt is attracted by the magnet and owing to the wound-up coil 29 the ratchet wheel 24 is rotated and the shooting device actu ated provided of course that string 34 is also simultaneously pulled upwardly.

The magazine 18 may be charged with or emptied of cartridges from the rear at the side ot the lower extension of the housing 10.

At the bottom of the housing I provide an arm 50 which has a short barrel 51 mounted at its foremost end so as Ato register with the lowest chamber 20 and the opening 3T. The barrel 51 has a low rim 52 which serves to hold a very thin, dark colored plate or film of kcellulose acetate or other similar slowly burning mass, to close the orifice of this short barrel; this film is easily punctured and the whole arrangement is made for the purpose or' diverting the lire of the powder charge :trom the shirt. The button holes ot' the under and upper iiap of the shirt 53 are put over the barrel 51 so as to fasten or hold the shirt behind the muzzle out ot reach of the tire.

The arm 50 is :turthermore` provided with a bore 54 in which the little ball 55 is held by a spring 56, the bore being closed by a cap or other suitable means. The ball engages the magazine 18 by entering into the cavities 57 below the Ychambers 20 so as to overcome the momentum, acquired by the magazine during rotation, in the moment a cgamber 20 comes to register withopening 3 The straps 11 and belts 12 can be made yof any suitable material, such as leather, canvas belting or the like; it is in line with the spirit of the invention that the front parts of the above members `11, 12 can be re-inforced by a kind of armor in the `form of a bullet proof vest to which straps are then secured to be tiedV behind the back. The rear of the housing can be covered with an elastic coating, such as a rubber plate, a rubber bag filled with glycerine or the like.

In order to avoid the accidental shooting of an innocent person the device is provided preferably with two special safety appliances, of which the one is of mechanical, the other of electrical nature. independent of the other and either one can be used separately or both can be operated simultaneously with the same ease at a. moments notice; it is of course understood that instead of the two different safety appliances two of either kind may be applied as the user may prefer.

It is furthermore understood that the device illustrated in the drawings serves only as an example to explain the general prin-.- ciple of construction; various changes can be made without departing from the spirit Either one is or sacrificing the advantages of the invention; so for instance it is not absolutely necessary, as shown, that the annular line of teeth 2l and ratchet wheel 24 are of the same diameter, as otherwise it is only necessary to adjust the diameter yof the spur gear 22 and the line of teeth thereon so that for every rotation of the ratchet wheel 24 the magazine 18 is moved for the distance of one chamber to the other from the opening 37 so as to have another cartridge ready to be fired off.

What I claim is: Y

In a shooting device the combination comprising a housing, a stationary shaft secured to the front wall and projecting with its bifurcate end into the inside of the housing, a cylindrical magazine chamber, adapted to hold cartridges, rotatably arranged on said shaft, detachable means to hold the magazine thereon, an annular line of teeth secured to said magazine close to its rear peripheral edge, a toothed gear, with a hollow shaft rigidly secured thereto, rotatably arranged in and projecting beyond the front wall of the housing, a gear, having part of its peripheral face provided with teeth, rigidly secured to aforesaid hollow shaft at its foremost end, a winding shaft operatively engaged in the aforesaidhollow shaft and in the rear Wall of the housing, a ratchet Wheel secured to the said Winding shaft, a pawl, secured to the said rear wall, engaging said ratchet Wheel, a spiral coil engaging with its outer end the toothed gear and with its inner end the winding shaft, a cam on the front side of the peripheral face of the ratchet wheel, a recess in the face of the ratchet Wheel closely after the cam, a double armed lever, pivotally secured in the bifurcate end of the stationary7 shaft, engaging with one arm the front side of the ratchet wheel and having a firing pin` at the end of the other arm, a passageway for the said pin in the front wall of the housing, a spring secured above the stationary shaft Within the housing and engaging the double armed lever opposite to the ratchet wheel, means to wind the spiral coil, means engaging the teeth of the ratchet wheel to stop the same, means to stop the magazine, and bullet proof means to hold the device to the body of the user.

Signed at New York, county and State of New York, this 25th day of September, 1925.

-MARTIN HOFMANN. 

